Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The BJP on Sunday sought to douse the communal fire lit by its loose cannons’ recent derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed, by suspending one and expelling the other. While the party suspended its national spokesperson Nupur Sharma for her offensive comment in a TV debate, it expelled its Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jindal for his reckless tweets. Nupur later dropped names of the party’s senior leadership in another interview, saying they were all with her on the issue, perhaps one reason why the BJP had to distance itself from her.
Also, the hate speech triggered anger in the Arab world with the foreign offices of Qatar, Kuwait and Iran summoning the respective Indian envoys to register their outrage. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, too, condemned the remarks. Deepak Mittal, India’s Ambassador in Qatar, was at pains to clarify that the hate speech did not reflect the views of the government, adding it was made by fringe elements.
“Ambassador conveyed that the tweets do not, in any manner, reflect the views of the Government of India. These are the views of fringe elements,” a spokesperson in Doha said. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) pitched in by underscoring India’s civilisational heritage and strong cultural traditions of unity in diversity, saying the government accords highest respect to all religions.
“We should work together against such mischievous elements who aim to undercut the strength of our bilateral ties,’’ MEA statement said. Earlier in the day, BJP general secretary Arun Singh released a signed statement saying the party is against any ideology that insults or demeans any sect or religion. “The BJP respects all religions. The BJP strongly denounces insult of any religious personalities of any religion,” the statement read.
The BJP also possibly had elections to a clutch of states on its mind when it decided to use its whiplash. For, the hate speech was threatening to derail the party’s outreach to Muslim voters, especially after drawing a decent percentage of votes from Muslim pockets in the UP polls. While poll-bound Gujarat has 9.67% Muslim voters, the corresponding figure in Himachal is 2.18%, Karnataka 12.91% and Rajasthan 9.1%. Nupur later said, “If my words have caused discomfort or hurt religious feelings of anyone whatsoever, I hereby unconditionally withdraw my statement.”
Aimed at global audience: Omar“There is a context to the BJP suddenly waking up… This apology of a statement is aimed at an international audience,” National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said in a tweet.
